Bittersweet Memories of Italy

As Costa Concordia Righted by Salvage Experts, a Balinese Former Crewmember Waits for His Life to Get Back on an Even Keel

(9/23/2013) While the world watched the righting and refloating of the Costa Concordia in Italy this past week, the news coverage must have been especially bittersweet for a 32-year-old Balinese man, Nyoman Juniartha.

When the Costa Concordia sank on January 14, 2012, Juniartha was numberd among the casualties. A member of the ship’s crew, Nyoman fell 12-meters as the ship capsized. Hospitalized for six months the young Balinese man spent 6-months in Italian hospitals in Siene, and later in Rome. It was only in July of 2012 that the Balinese crew member was allowed to return to Bali, accompanied on his flight by an Italian nurse.

In the capsizing, Nyoman Juniartha suffered numerous injuries that included a broken backbone and a severed nerve that has left him confined to a wheelchair with no feeling below his waist.

As reported by NusaBali, since his return to Bali in the middle of last year, Juniartha has visited a number of doctors and medical centers seeking a “miracle” medial treatment that would somehow restore the full use of his legs.

Also, as result of his accident, Nyoman Juniartha’s plans to marry his 25-year-old sweetheart, Ni Nengah Pariani, have been put on hold. The couple were originally schedule to marry in February 2012, one month after the ship’s tragic grounding.

Since his homecoming, Nyoman Juniartha has also managedto move from his parent’s simple home in Sanur to a new, more spacious house purchased on Jalan Sedap Malam in Denpasar where he spends his days in a wheelchair accompanied by his ever-faithful Nengah Pariani.